


Turn

by Erinsusername



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: F/M, Humiliation, Intimidation, Protection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 15:49:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30074598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erinsusername/pseuds/Erinsusername
Summary: A no name droid tech catches the eye of ISB Agent Kallus and possibly vice versa. Possibly.
Relationships: Alexsandr Kallus/new character
Kudos: 2





	Turn

Invisible.

Lt. Roan Kalivoda was absolutely invisible to everyone around her and she preferred it that way. In the eleven years that she had worked as a droid technician for the Empire she had made no friends. She did have a careless and desperate attempt to fill a painful void with another tech that never evolved past anything physical in the beginning of her career, but after that she made a point to keep to herself, do her job, and repeat without incident. It was exactly how she intended to get by when she joined the Empire back in her early twenties and it had worked well in her favor since. She kept her head down and did what they expected and she got what she needed in return. 

She liked her assignment on Lothal. It had been a quiet planet, unresisting in its slow destruction by the Empire’s ravaging of its natural resources; that is, until a small group of rebels began creating chaos a few years ago. The Imperial response had been borderline comical in its ineptitude when dealing with them and even the determined yet painfully pretentious ISB agent that was sent to capture them had been completely unsuccessful in almost every attempt. Even the Vader himself had failed to turn Lothal’s residents against them. These people were good.

What fresh hell will today bring, Lt. Roan Kalivoda thought as she sighed heavily and looked deep into the reflection staring back at her in a small mirror hanging in her quarters. She hadn’t slept much the night before, or the night before that. In fact, she hadn’t slept well since she was twelve if she wanted to get technical with herself. 

Stop. She blinked hard a few times and quickly pulled her dark hair into its regulation bun before haphazardly placing her uniform cap just above it. The woman took a quick, last look before she exited out into the bright hallway and slowly made her way to the lift at the far end of it. 

She was busy fumbling with her uncooperative headpiece in the door’s reflection when they suddenly opened and the ISB agent, Kallus, appeared directly in front of her, his feet slightly apart and hands clasped firmly behind his back. He stared down his broad nose at her with a slightly raised eyebrow before she thought to bring her arms down to her sides and step onto the lift with him.

Roan had actually never seen the man in person but had heard that he carried himself as if he were the Emperor, and judging by what stood before her, it appeared the rumor was true. He was very tall, stood with a naturally intimidating stance, and his stoic, unreadable expression, along with his piercing hazel brown eyes, exuded an abject confidence that she could literally feel pressing hard all around her from the moment she stepped onto the lift. 

When she boarded he did not step back to allow her a comfortable space to stand forcing her to situate herself with her face just a few inches from the closed doors and himself close enough behind her that she could feel his body heat almost instantly. Or maybe it was her own that was rising rapidly, she wasn’t sure.

She immediately felt his gaze over the top of her head and straightened her posture as she quickly pushed the button to the level that would take her to the commissary. It felt to her like the lift was barely moving which allowed more than enough time for his mere presence to completely encompass the now heavy air surrounding them and cause a subtle stir deep inside of her chest that she hadn’t felt in a long, long while. She closed her eyes, took in a slow, deep breath, and let out a long, quiet exhale before there was finally a small beep that indicated they had reached the level that the Agent had previously chosen. However, much to her dismay, when the doors opened he didn’t move to exit. 

Roan said nothing as the doors closed and they restarted the merciless creep further down into the domed military base. The only sounds she heard were the hard, intense wooshing of blood in her ears broken only by the occasional sound of the leather of his gloves being stretched and relaxed by the slow movements of the long fingers of his hands.

The man was close enough to her that not only did the subtle fragrance of the fancy non-issue soap that he had obviously just washed his body with surround and linger in her nose, but she could feel each rise and fall of his broad chest with every slow, steady breath that he took and she knew that if she moved so much as a millimeter the two would incidentally touch. The mere thought of it made her face flush hot.

Stop it! You’re being ridiculous. You know better.

But, she was so focused on his proximity and her fear that the low hum of the elevator wasn’t loud enough to mask the sound of the pounding of her heart in her chest that when the lift reached her destination she didn’t initially realize it.

“Isn’t this your stop?” a smooth, low voice in a thick core accent came from just above her right ear, the heat of his breath caused every single hair on her body to stand erect.

“Huh? Oh, yes,” she stammered as she clamored her way out of the closing doors and toward the commissary. 

Fuck, that was intense, she thought as she practically ran around a corner that led her into the open area where the base’s meals were served. Having shaken off a small amount of the nerves of her encounter, she turned toward a large cooler in a corner. Her call time was later than most so on most days picking was slim, but today she was in luck. Sitting alone on the back of a middle shelf was a rare container of sliced meilooruns. 

Ha, no protein bar today! She thought happily as she quickly made her way across the room and grabbed the cup before anyone else had the chance.

“Why, thank you!” a familiar voice mocked her as she turned, and the cup was snatched from her hand by an arrogant Ensign that was almost half her age and the bane of the entire base’s existence.

“I’m not in the mood,” she growled as she reached to take it back only to have the boy pull it above his head and tick a finger back and forth in her face which caused the two other boys he was with to roar with laughter. 

“Finders keepers,” he laughed as he turned on his heel to walk away. 

The woman let out a long exacerbated sigh. “You’ll need the fork,” she resigned and held up the utensil in front of her.

“What a gal!” the Ensign howled back to his friends as he reached out to take it from her. But as he did, she quickly extended her arm as far out to her side as she could and when he looked she reached over with her other hand and slapped the top of the cup he was holding so hard that the lid popped off and the fruit pieces scattered across the floor. 

“You stupid bitch!” he screamed loud enough to cause the entire room to go silent and everyone in it to stop and look at the spectacle.

So much for invisible. 

“That’s a superior officer you are speaking to,” the thick accent from the elevator boomed through the silence and stopped Lt. Kalivoda’s, and probably everyone else’s, heart immediately. 

She looked past the boy to see Agent Kallus standing a few feet behind the two punks that had been laughing along with the Ensign and his theatrics, except now they were visibly shaking. 

“Yeah, well you obviously don’t know who I-,” the boy mocked as he turned to face his aggressor before he realized his mistake. 

“I know exactly who you are. I had wondered how someone from such a prestigious pedigree ended up way out here on a no name planet in the far outer rim. Now I know. Tell me, did you even manage to finish the academy or did they just put you this far out so no one would ask questions?” Kallus asked callously as he slowly circled the boy like he was injured prey. “Your mom must be so proud.”

“You can’t spea-,” the Ensign began to protest.

“Apologize,” the Agent interrupted. 

The boy hesitated for a long few seconds before he finally rubbed the back of his neck, “I, uh, yeah, I’m sorry, sir.”

“Not to me, imbecile,” he growled as he tilted his head toward Roan. 

The Ensign looked momentarily surprised before he reluctantly conceded, “sorry,” he mumbled while looking at the floor.

“Do better,” the Agent commanded. He was now standing directly behind the Ensign that he towered over due to an impressive height difference.

The boy looked shocked. Roan had never seen anyone take him to task before. Most people were afraid to because of who his family was, but not Agent Kallus. He was relishing in his assault.

The Ensign cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, ma’am,” he squeaked out before he looked back at the Agent for affirmation.

“Do better,” he simply said again. 

The kid looked absolutely horrified by this point. “What would you like for me to do, then?” he asked with a tinge of moronic sarcasm.

Kallus coolly walked to his side and leaned down to his other ear, “get on your knees.”

“What? You can’t make me do that!” the boy stammered as he tried to turn to move away; however before he could the Agent grabbed his shoulders and turned him to face Roan.

She wanted to run away as fast as she could but her legs wouldn’t work. Part of her was actually loving the humiliation of the asshole in front of her but another part was vicariously embarrassed and she knew if she tried to leave that she would end up on the punishment end of this bizarre encounter as well. And after the intimidation in the elevator, she wasn’t about to risk that. 

Kallus leaned down and whispered something into the Ensign’s ear that made his eyes grow wide and a few seconds later drop to his knees. 

“Lt. Kalivoda,” he began before the Agent nudged him with his large boot causing him to clasp his hands together in front of his chest. “I would like to extend my most sincere apology for my behavior.”

She looked up wide eyed from the boy to the Agent who was looking down with an almost mischievous grin across his lips. 

He’s enjoying this.

“I hope that you can forgive me for my unacceptable actions,” the Ensign finished.

Kallus looked up to notice that she was still looking at him and she instantly covered with a small cough and quickly moved her gaze back down to the matter at hand on the floor.

“Do you accept his apology?” he asked her seriously.

She was tempted to say no to see what else he was capable of, but opted to end the situation as fast as possible instead. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Are you sure?” the Agent asked her, his hazel eyes transfixed on her own so deeply that a few seconds went by before she realized that she wasn’t breathing when he asked again, “Lieutenant?”

“Yes. That is fine,” she replied standing up straighter and clasping her hands behind her back. 

“Good. Get up,” he barked down at the Ensign as the boy clamored to his feet. He grabbed his arm and pointed at Roan, “mess with her, or anyone for that matter again, and you’ll be emptying vac-tubes by hand on Hoth for the rest of your career. Understand?”

“Yes, sir,” the kid said with a hint of defiance before his arm was released and he and his friends made a quick escape around a corner.

The people in the room began to slowly go back to their business, but Kallus and Roan just stood and stared at each other in silence for what she thought was an eternity. 

“Why did you let him do that? You outrank him,” he asked angrily.

“He gets away with everything because of who he is. I’ve made numerous complaints. Nothing ever happens,” she replied matter of factly. “Also, while I sincerely appreciate you stepping in, you just made things a thousand times worse.”

He took a step closer and put a finger toward her chest, “if he so much as looks at you wro-,”

“Again, I appreciate what you’re doing, but I don’t need a protector,” she scoffed. “I need to get going. Thank you for your help,” she smiled and nodded as she made her way out of the commissary and to the safety of her workstation. 

By fourteen hundred, Lt. Kalivoda’s stomach was growling hard. With the bizarre fiasco of the morning she had missed out on actually getting something to eat and it was starting to show. 

It wasn’t the only thing that was bothering her either. While she was grateful for the Agent’s backup in the commissary, the more she thought about it the more annoyed she was with his behavior in the lift. Or, at least she considered it annoyed, she wasn’t sure. She didn’t take lightly to intimidation, but at the same time she couldn’t stop thinking about how unintimidated she actually was by it. 

Did she get flustered? Unequivocally. Seduced? Not even close. Okay, perhaps maybe slightly beguiled at the most. Stars, he did smell wonderful though. Like trees on a warm summer evening in Naboo.

That is dangerous, girl! She thought as she shook her head hard and tried again to concentrate on the task before her.

“R3, will you shine a light directly down into this area?” she asked the green R-unit beside her.

The little machine let out a beep and maneuvered its mechanical arm up and over the top of the opened canopy of the R4 unit that she was working on.

“Great,” she sighed after digging around for a few seconds.

Her little green companion let out a few concerned beeps in response.

“Well, luckily it’s just a loose bolt,” she informed it. “But it’s a tiny one and in a place that I can’t reach easily without taking the whole damn thing apart.” 

She sighed heavily again and sat down between the two droids while she thought. A few minutes later she hopped up and quickly headed for the very back of the workshop where she kept her obscure, rarely used tools and slowly began to scour the area for what she hoped she still had. 

“Keep an eye on the front, R3,” she called over her shoulder.

After about fifteen minutes she still hadn’t found what she needed and, between it and her growling stomach, was becoming increasingly frustrated by the second.

“Hello?” someone yelled over the sound of her droid’s protests.

She swallowed the urge to scream back and instead politely replied loudly, “I’ll be up there in a minute!”

“I don’t have a minute,” a cocky response came from closer to the back shelving unit where she was standing.

Unbelievable, she thought as she leaned her head back and slowly exhaled in an attempt to not scream. When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she saw. 

“I knew you were back here,” she whispered to the long handle of the specialty socket wrench extender that sat poking out precariously from the very top shelf behind her. She quickly began to look around for a stepping stool, to no avail, when the voice shouted again, this time even closer to her.

“Seriously, I don’t have all day!” came a threat in an all too familiar voice.

You’ve got to be kidding me, she screamed in her mind. 

“You can’t be back here for safety reasons! Please go back to the front and I will be right there,” she shouted with as much venom in her voice as she could muster. She rolled her eyes and began to assess how she was going to retrieve the extender and not kill the ISB Agent with it once she did. 

The unit was almost three meters high, which meant she was going to have to climb up the first few of the rickety shelves to reach it. She swallowed hard and put her hands on the ledge that was just above her face level and pulled down as hard as she could with most of her body weight. When nothing happened she took it as a good sign and cautiously stepped up onto the first shelf. After a few fearful seconds she decided it was safe and reached up and repeated the process. 

On the third row up she felt that the extender was close enough to reach out for, but when she did her fingertips could only barely graze the cold metal handle. 

Seriously? She sighed as she shifted her weight inward and reached out again; however, before her arm completely extended, the shelf that she was holding onto suddenly broke and flipped toward her causing her center of gravity to shift backwards. 

It felt like slow motion when she felt herself begin to fall and she braced hard for the impact that her back and head were going to make with the hard floor, except she didn’t. At the last possible second she felt something hook around her upper back and under her knees before quickly spinning her away and shielding her from the falling debris that she had pulled down with her. She didn’t see what happened, but she immediately knew by another one of her senses. Trees. 

“It looks like you do need a protector,” he said quietly into her ear before she finally found her bearings and fumbled her way out of his arms. 

She quickly straightened her posture and smoothed out the fabric of her one-piece work jumper before clearing her throat, “thank you,” she squeaked out in a voice that was easily two octaves higher than her own. 

What the hell is your problem? 

The man just stood in front of her with his head tilted slightly to his right. 

“If you don’t mind going back to the front, I will be with you in a moment,” she said as she gently pushed past him and looked up at the tool that sat exactly where it had before she tried to initiate a shelving tsunami. 

“You’re welcome,” he answered unenthusiastically as he stepped toward the cabinetry causing her to instinctively turn to face him and back peddle up against the shelves. He stood close enough to her that she had to lift her chin all the way up to see his face as he slowly, and without looking away from her, reached above his head and grabbed the extender from where it sat. 

“Looks like you owe me one,” he said in a low voice as he slowly looked her up and down before he finally handed her the tool and sauntered away cockily. 

Stop, stop, stop. You are a grown ass woman, act like it. She told herself as she pulled herself back together and rounded the corner that would take her back to the front of the work area.

The Agent was waiting for her when she finally got to the front desk. 

“I wasn’t aware that you had a droid,” she informed him as she pulled her datapad out from a drawer. “What’s the req number?”

“I don’t have one. I need help with this,” he replied as he placed his own datapad on the counter. 

She looked down at it and tried her hardest to collect herself before she looked back up. “That’s not a droid.”

“I know, but it won’t turn on and IT-“

“Take it back up to them and hit the first person you see with it. Tell them I sent you.”

He just turned his head slightly at her sudden burst of hostility. 

“I do droids, not computers,” she almost growled before a series of equally hostile beeps came up from behind her. “Easy, R3,” she said in an easier tone as she patted the droid’s head. “They send me the stuff they can’t fix so I get blamed instead,” she huffed as she pulled a stool behind her. 

“I’ll take it back then,” Kallus offered as he reached to take it back.

“Wait,” she hesitated for a brief second. “You’re already here. What happened to it?” she asked as she plugged the machine into a cord that ran under the counter. 

“It just stopped working. There is very important intelligence on there and I need access to it immediately,” he said with what she was beginning to notice was a perpetual air of superiority that carried in his voice. 

“Is it charged?” she joked as she plugged in another cord. 

“I think I’m smart enough to know if-“ he stopped when he realized that she was kidding. He stood silently as she connected the device to her own before flipping it over and removing the back casing. 

“Did you throw it or something?” 

He just looked at her perplexed.

“I’m serious this time. There’s some really odd damage here,” she said in awe as she poked at the malformed components with a small screwdriver. “It looks like a tiny person got in here and just started pulling things apart,” she continued without looking up.

He watched the almost wonder like expressions on her face as she prodded further into the device before she picked it up and held it closer to a light. “We went too close to a cluster of collapsed stars.”

“That’s brave,” she mumbled before she sat the tablet down and looked at him seriously. “I’m guessing you didn’t go in because it started pulling your ship apart?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it did the same thing to everything; the ship, its equipment, even you. I can’t fix this, but I can try to salvage the right parts of it and get your data off of it,” she offered with a small shrug. “Hopefully.”

“Fine, how long will it take?” he huffed loudly.

“I can start on it when I finish this one,” she offered as she pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the headless R4. The look on his face said that it wasn’t good enough but she could tell his brain interjected before his mouth opened. 

“Fine, let me know as soon as it is completed. It’s very important,” he conceded before turning and walking out. 

Roan just looked down and winked at the little green droid that never left her side. “It’s very important,” she mocked in a horrendous attempt at the man’s accent before she went back to work. 

It was well into the evening before she managed to retrieve the files saved to the Agent’s datapad. The machine itself was a complete loss but she had managed to get it somewhat working long enough to transfer everything to an external hard drive. 

“Okay, R3, take this to his office,” she instructed the droid as she handed over the device.

The robot let out a long series of fast beeps.

“Well, I don’t want to either and you’re already holding it,” she laughed as she sat heavily on a stool. It had been a really long day and she really just wanted to take a long, hot shower and try to sleep. 

R3 rocked back and forth angrily before aggressively pushing his way through the swinging door that she had installed below the front counter especially for it.

“I love you!”

All she heard back were its agitated boops of dismay slowly grow quieter as the droid rolled further away from her down the corridor.

“Sorry, buddy. I’ve had my fill for the day,” she said softly to herself as she hopped up and began to put away the array of small tools and components that were scattered all over her work area. As she reached down to lift a box onto the counter top her gaze fell to a small black cord laying on the ground. 

That droid is going in the compactor, she thought as she walked over and picked up the connection cord to the hard drive that the unit was taking to Kallus, the cord that he would have to have. 

Maybe I can catch up before R3 gets there, she though as she quickly scooped it up, pushed through the door, and began to jog down the hallway. 

She didn’t get very far before she heard her droid beeping frantically over the sound of maniacal laughter and the sudden sound of something hard hitting metal. When she rounded a corner to her left she saw R3 surrounded by the Ensigns from the cafeteria kicking at the scared machine as it tried desperately to avoid their assaults. 

Roan didn’t even hesitate when she ran up behind the boy closest to her and smashed her heel down hard into the outside of his right knee. He howled as he fell to the floor causing the other two to turn and face her, which gave R3 the chance to escape. 

“You really are a stupid bitch,” the ringleader snapped as he lunged toward her. 

She readied her stance to take him in a frontal assault, but suddenly a sharp pain in her ankle caused her to fall backward right into the arms of the third assailant slightly in front of her to her right side. The Ensign on the floor had composed himself enough to return a kick to her foot and suddenly she found herself pinned against the wall with her left arm pulled up high between her shoulder blades. The boy staggered his feet and leaned against her with all of his bodyweight making it hard for her to breathe and impossible to move. She felt his fingers slowly slide into her hair at the base of her skull before he suddenly closed his fist and pulled her head back hard.

“The shit I’m going to do to you, little bitch,” the leader growled into her ear as he walked over and grabbed her chin to yank her head to face him. “Where’s your boyfriend now, huh?”

Roan whispered something inaudible.

“What was that?” the boy asked laughing as he put his ear closer to her mouth.

“I don’t need him,” she whispered again before she leaned back and slammed her forehead into the cartilage of his ear as hard as she could. Pain engulfed her entire body as the sharpness of what she immediately assumed was a small concussion was contrasted with the burning from her scalp by handful of hair that the other boy was holding and probably ripped out when she moved forward as hard and fast as she did. 

“I’m going to fucking kill you!” he screamed as he fell to the ground and she leaned back against the wall to keep her dizziness at bay as best she could. Purple stars filled her field of vision and quiet, obscure beeps began to creep into her auditory senses. 

The ensign holding her against the wall pulled her head back again forcing her to look up at the ceiling. “That was stupid,” he whispered slimily into her ear as she felt him grind himself into her back. “But, I like when they fight back.”

She felt a wave of abject disgust wash over her before she leaned into his face, “you better-.”

Before she could finish she heard a blaster ready and a Stormtrooper bark out an order to stand down. The Ensign slowly let go and backed away with his hands up as another trooper placed cuffs on the two others still lying on the floor. 

The beeps grew louder as the ringing in her ears began to subside and she turned and slid down the wall to sit on the floor with her nervous droid that had gone to get help. 

“Are you alright?” a quiet voice asked from above her. Kallus knelt down a few feet in front of her and looked genuinely concerned. 

“I’ll be fine. It’s nothing some ice and a light analgesic won’t fix,” she replied as her attackers were led away, the one that had held her against the wall made a small kiss at her before he was pushed down the hall. 

R3 growled and Kallus had to physically stop the droid from chasing the Ensign. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” he said darkly to the small robot before it finally wheeled back over to its place beside Roan. He looked at her for a long few seconds before he finally stood, “I’m sorry that you got hurt.” He turned to walk away and quietly added, “it won’t happen again.”


End file.
